In one of the most surprising twists leading up to The International 2025 (TI14), Gaimin Gladiators stunned the Dota 2 community by withdrawing their roster just two weeks before the tournament.
The move sparked immediate controversy, igniting a heated exchange between the players and the organization. The situation escalated further when former Dota 2 TI champion Aui_2000 publicly voiced strong criticism.
The drama started when Valve announced through the tournament’s official channels that Gaimin Gladiators had informed them of their withdrawal. According to Valve, direct talks with the invited players revealed that they had been unable to reach an agreement with the organization that would allow them to compete at TI14.
Shortly after, GG co-founder and president Nick Cuccovillo issued a statement of his own. He explained that “internal matters between the players and the organization” made it impossible to move forward with a roster. However, he also stressed that legal constraints limited what he could share publicly, leaving fans and analysts speculating on the real reasons behind the fallout.
The controversy took a sharp turn when GG’s mid laner Quinn publicly challenged the organization’s version of events. In a series of statements, Quinn asserted that “the decision to withdraw from The International was made unilaterally by Gaimin Gladiators” and that the players themselves had “never made this decision.”
Quinn further revealed that the roster had “explicitly communicated in writing” that they were “ready, willing, and able” to participate at TI14 under the GG banner. Despite this, he claimed the organization outright “refused” to allow them to compete, directly contradicting the idea that the players wanted independence. His comments immediately cast doubt on the org’s official explanation and intensified the debate within the Dota 2 community.
Cuccovillo fired back hours later, saying that Quinn’s statement about GG making a unilateral decision to withdraw from TI was “misleading.” He further went on to explain how the entire situation unfolded from GG’s perspective, stating, “We did in fact withdraw the team from TI, but this decision was predicated by a request from the team to terminate their contracts with GG so they could participate at TI as independent players.”
“We agreed to this request and notified Valve that we would not be able to field a team for TI given their switch-out rules. The team did not engage with us to agree terms to settle, and by the time they decided they would participate in TI we had no confidence that the team or members of the team would remain with GG or be in a position to represent the team and their colleagues at TI,” Cuccovillo added.
The fallout from the conflicting narratives quickly ignited outrage across the Dota 2 community, with some of the strongest criticism coming from Aui_2000, a TI5 champion player with Evil Geniuses and TI11 winning coach with Tundra Esports. In a series of posts on social media, Aui_2000 voiced his disbelief at the situation, taking direct aim at the organization’s handling of the crisis.
Drawing from his own experience of being infamously removed from Evil Geniuses just days after winning The International 2015, Aui remarked that he had “never seen something on this level where the org is stopping players from going to TI.” His words resonated with fans, many of whom viewed the situation as unprecedented in competitive Dota history.
Even the coach of defending TI champions Team Liquid, Blitz, weighed in, calling the scenario potentially “the most shocking thing I’ve ever seen in Dota” if it were true that the org had blocked its players from competing. While Blitz expressed shock at the overall situation, Aui_2000’s criticism went further, sharply targeting what he described as mismanagement and poor decision-making from Gaimin Gladiators’ leadership.
The strong reactions from high-profile figures only amplified the controversy, making GG’s shocking withdrawal as one of the most heated and debated storylines heading into The International 2025.
